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A Rapid Method for Determining Boron Concentration ( ID ‐ ICP ‐ MS ) and δ 11 B ( MC ‐ ICP ‐ MS ) in Vegetation Samples after Microwave Digestion and Cation Exchange Chemical Purification
Author(s) -
Roux Philippe,
Lemarchand Damien,
Hughes Harold J.,
Turpault MariePierre
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geostandards and geoanalytical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.037
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1751-908X
pISSN - 1639-4488
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-908x.2014.00328.x
Subject(s) - chemistry , analytical chemistry (journal) , chromatography , sample preparation , yield (engineering) , inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry , mass spectrometry , extraction (chemistry) , isotopes of boron , boron , materials science , metallurgy , organic chemistry
We present in this article a rapid method for B extraction, purification and accurate B concentration and δ 11 B measurements by ID ‐ ICP ‐ MS and MC ‐ ICP ‐ MS , respectively, in different vegetation samples (bark, wood and tree leaves). We developed a rapid three‐step procedure including (1) microwave digestion, (2) cation exchange chromatography and (3) microsublimation. The entire procedure can be performed in a single working day and has shown to allow full B recovery yield and a measurement repeatability as low as 0.36‰ (± 2 s ) for isotope ratios. Uncertainties mostly originate from the cation exchange step but are independent of the nature of the vegetation sample. For δ 11 B determination by MC ‐ ICP ‐ MS , the effect of chemical impurities in the loading sample solution has shown to be critical if the dissolved load exceeds 5 μg g −1 of total salts or 25 μg g −1 of DOC . Our results also demonstrate that the acid concentration in the sample loading solution can also induce critical isotopic bias by MC ‐ ICP ‐ MS if chemistry of the rinsing‐, bracketing calibrator‐ and sample solutions is not thoroughly adjusted. We applied this method to provide a series of δ 11 B values of vegetal reference materials ( NIST SRM 1570a = 25.74 ± 0.21‰; NIST 1547 = 40.12 ± 0.21‰; B2273 = 4.56 ± 0.15‰; BCR 060 = −8.72 ± 0.16‰; NCS DC 73349 = 16.43 ± 0.12‰).